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6 Silly Reasons You Aren’t Improving (At Whatever You’re Doing)

Focusing on the big aspects of self improvement tends to work…most of the time. We take care of the big pieces of the puzzle and the smaller ones seem to fall into place.

But sometimes there is the one stubborn piece (or eight) that we just try to ignore and hope it either goes away or magically fits itself somewhere to make the picture work. These are those silly pieces, the ones we need to pay attention to and can really throw a wrench into our personal development.

1. You Let Your Ego Get In Your Way

“Leave your ego at the door” is a common phrase heard in weight rooms around the world, but it can apply to pretty much every endeavor. Treat the activity you’re trying to improve as one that has natural levels of progression. How far you can progress down the line will be determined by the habits you set now, and attempting to do more than your skill level suggests will only hinder your further improvement.

Take the time to learn the basics and get a solid grasp before you move on to the more complex tasks.

2. You Are Your Own “Coach”

Even the experts can get up their own behinds every once in a while. The risk doubles when they are trying to work on their own behavior. Even if we know a lot about a subject, our knowledge of our self can be more obscure. Our natural biases kick in and we protect ourselves from the truth: That maybe we have the same weakness as every one else.

Seek some guidance from other experts when you see your progress stalling. There is no reason to let your self reliance get in the way of growth.

3. You Know Your Weakness and Refuse To Work On It

This is just a silly reason we can’t improve and yet almost everyone can say they’ve fallen into this trap.

We know our unorganized work holds us back, but we don’t even bother to find better, more organized ways to do things.

We understand that some of the ideas we have about certain topics are just adopted blindly from others, yet we continue to act like they are meaningful to us.

Bringing up your weakness strengthens the chain as a whole, and it just seems silly not to do so.

4. You Fear Failure

Okay, this one isn’t really that silly. I mean, failing can have serious consequences. It could cost you a promotion, or maybe the next big job will be given to someone else. But really, failure is something we all must face. Failure can mean much more of a loss the more involved and complex certain tasks are, but the fear of that failure holds back great people from doing great things.

You must understand what failing means and be ready to accept its consequences, but more than that, you must be willing to move on.

5. You Don’t Keep Up To Date

Knowledge builds upon itself exponentially and things we thought mysteries years ago are now old news, giving way to other, novel areas of investigation.

Not keeping up with your field spells disaster over the long run and will ensure you will become obsolete before too long. This doesn’t just mean reading up on it either. You have to keep experimenting with new things in order to keep a wholesome perspective of how the field is evolving.

Always be willing to listen to others in your field and try some new things out.

6. You Refuse To Act

Knowing what kind of life you want is easy. Acting in such a way as to attain that life is more difficult, and yet many of us don’t ever take those steps. They don’t have to be terribly big steps; tiny little shuffles here and there will help you get there.

Mix all the other reasons in this article with a lack of energy and you end up with no motivation to act, even when the goal is clear to you.

Improve your outlook upon your life, make your goals clear, and deal with all the silly reasons you aren’t improving and the need to act will become clear. You may find yourself moving without thinking about it.

Conclusion

You could also call this article, “Six Things You Know But You Don’t Know.” These reasons may be self-evident and yet here you are, maybe wondering about that one project you still haven’t finished. I challenge you to make a small step right now, whatever it may be, to see that project come to fruition.

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About Mitchell Sahlfeld

Mitchell Sahlfeld graduated from Fort Hays State University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy where he also garnered two NCAA Division II Track and Field All-American Honors and one Academic All-American Honor. He is most interested in the topics of philosophy of education, how we learn, and how to live well.

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